When I went to CES in 2012, I had a pretty good time. I’m having a pretty good time this year, too, but that’s in no way thanks to the gadgets that have been unveiled thus far (well, with one exception).

Can you think of anything else that’s actually worthwhile we’ve seen this year? I don’t consider Huawei and ZTE devices we’ll never see in the US, or Intel’s new downmarket chipset, exciting. Qualcomm unveiled some new chips at an absolutely insane keynote, and these chips do things faster and better..er. But come on, they’re processors – if they didn’t get faster every year, something would be seriously wrong. I’m not saying they’re unimportant (they’re obviously very important), but chip announcements at CES (the CONSUMER electronics show) are low-level nerd stuff that the average person couldn’t care less about. They aren’t products – they’re things that go in the products.

Verizon announced jack squat. Sprint discovered phones have FM radio chips. AT&T wasted 2 hours of my morning talking about a smart home. Samsung took the opportunity to offload the boring-ass, almost certainly hilariously-overpriced Verizon 4G-ified Note 10.1. LG unveiled some new Google TV that isn’t really new and really doesn’t do anything cool, and basically nothing else. Toshiba brought zero new Android products. Acer came with its already-announced $100 tablet, and it’s awful, and actually costs $130-150, which makes it exponentially worse. And oh boy, somebody made the world’s thinnest phone for the fiftieth time. Huzzah.

The best part of this whole conference has been the ridiculous stuff, the misfits – like an Android powered oven. At least that’s interesting. I don’t think it’s good, but it’s interesting. And then there’s RCA’s tablet with a TV tuner – it’s so bad it’s kind of funny, in an endearing sort of way. But it’s still bad. There’s also stuff like the Polaroid Android camera with swappable lenses, and that’s just so bad it’s sad. Tomorrow we’re going to see the YotaPhone (link), and I am genuinely excited about the depths of awfulness it may trawl. Edit: So we saw YotaPhone, and wow, this may be the coolest thing at CES this year (that isn't saying much, but hey) - our hands-on is coming soon. We also might see Shield tomorrow, and I’m genuinely genuinely excited about that.

Otherwise, this year’s CES seems like a bust. And I don’t just mean Android – I mean everything. What did we see? Faster ultrabooks with touchscreens – an exceptionally incremental evolution, if a necessary one for Windows 8.

4K TV’s you can’t afford, and even when you can, that don’t really make much of a case for their existence in the first place. We watch things on the internet now. Can you imagine how long it’ll be before 4K streaming over the web catches on, or is practical? And TV still needs a content revolution so desperately that the media is practically inventing Apple TV set rumors because it considers such a product to be inevitable. TVs don't need more pixels - they need to catch up to the rest of the high-tech world we live in.

Smart appliances are still overselling mediocre, clunky implementations of ‘futuristic’ functionality. Designer headphones are still overpriced and gimmicky. And the requisite dark corners of the LVCC’s halls are still filled with phone cases, various accessory makers, Chinese white label companies, and app developers hoping for little more than a chance to make a pitch to new investors.

CES used to be about unveiling a lot of new and truly exciting products. Now, it’s an easy way to lump lame new products no one cares about – or that simply can’t justify their own, separate announcement events, like TVs – under a media spotlight so intense that it makes them seem like they’re something you should care about. Or you can use it to announce old products and kind-of-sort-of pretend they’re newish, like LG did (NVIDIA is guilty of this with Grid, too). It’s a CES reality distortion field.

And it works. I won’t deny that for a second. It’s also been a part of the CES game for a while now – it’s not like the mass offloading of lackluster / old-as-new-again products at trade shows is a new tactic. But it used to be that legitimately cool stuff was interspersed in there, too. This year, though, seems worse than ever. I can’t say I’m excited about a return trip to what is increasingly a self-perpetuating tech circus. There is no real steam pushing this show anymore, it’s 90% reputation fumes. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if more big names drop out of it entirely for 2014 - and I wouldn't blame them, either.

Comments

edzuslv

u mad bro? :)

Ryuuie

If I paid to go to CES 2013, I'd be mad too.

This year just seemed so fucking boring. As a nerd, I couldn't care less about of this stuff, as a consumer, I just pretended CES didn't exist (which wasn't hard because it looked like everyone else did too).

Wake me up when Google I/O 2013 hits. Even if that sucks too, at least we'll get Android news that usually tends to be awesome.

Then tell me when LEGO's Marvel game releases and remind me about Pokemon X and Y in October.

Hell, the video games announced during this time were EXPONENTIALLY more interesting than anything at CES. Seriously Warner Bros. Interactive making a MARVEL game?!

WB = DC Comics = Marvel (and also Disney) rival. Wow. This is AWESOME. 4K TVs, new processors, and a thing that looks like the MOGA I got for free a week or so ago? Meh.

Google I/O will showcase Android KLP 5.0, which is the next big overhaul (the last one was ICS which was practically a new generation of Android).... Oh it's going to be good. 5.0 is the reason I'm so reluctant to dump my Nexus 7 and phone for the Huawei Ascend Mate...

Kuzay

Lol... I got that too XD

Brian Inglut

Are you joking? Do you know how manyppeople would love to be in your position . what a joke

Abhijeet Mishra

Well, that's the thing, for someone who's been a regular can (and has in this case) have gotten bored with it. For those who've never been there (you and me), well, easy to think of this editorial as a joke.

Brian Inglut

No you take two seconds as a tech enthusiast and think damn this is pretty cool. I get to see all the stuff that no one else ever sees. It doesn't matter if you've gone to a hundred of these shows if your passionate about tech this should be fun for you and if it isn't.maybe its time to move on. Your in Vegas too

Abhijeet Mishra

I'm sure he's passionate about the tech, but apparently most of the tech was just nice to look at but not that good/feasible enough to be used right now, which is what the editorial is trying to talk about. True, I'd still want to go every time, but it seems things aren't as exciting as they used to be. But then again, what do I know, I've never been to one of these events. xD

Brian Inglut

Are you His life partner jeez. I understand where you are coming from but come on. Your getting.paid to report (play) with upcoming yet to be released/seen devices and your in Vegas and all you have to say is that it is a disappointment? I'm not saying he's not entitled to his opinion but he needs to stop and think about where and what he is getting paid to do. All these other sites have been saying how great this ces is also. So maybe time to move on? Or send someone else

yankeesusa

Thats the whole point he's getting at. That most of the stuff there is not new as most of it was already introduced. Companies are just filling in the gap with stuff we have already seen and the stuff that's new is kind of boring. So I agree 100% in saying that it sounds like tech companies are giving up on ces or just waiting to introduce something next go around or are just going to do their own shows with their new stuff.

Tomi Golob

Maybe if you had his experience you wouldn't talk like that... I don't care what other sites say. Have your own mind to decide what is good or not. And come on, most sites get ad revenue by the brands they review so ofcourse most of them will praise their junk...I'm glad AP goes in another direction

Sqube

What other sites have been saying how great CES is? I've seen plenty of coverage, but nobody saying it was great.

Anyway, for someone claiming that other people are taking this way too personally, you're posting a whole lot. You're using your standards to measure his experience. What makes you think that's a useful thing to do? He goes to tech shows ALL THE TIME. By the standards of HIS life (i.e., not yours), CES 2013 is lacking.

As someone who has never been to a tech show but follows them on the internet, CES 2013 has been a disappointment. I'm sorry it's the greatest tech show you've ever seen in your life, because they're actually a lot better than this. You just need to accept that not everyone thinks every single tech show is absolutely amazing simply by virtue of its being a tech show.

Tíghearnán Carroll

Next time you complain a meal tastes bad, just you remember there are loads of starving people who'd LOVE to be in your position!! Man what a joke.
Next time you complain about your job, just remember that are loads of jobless/homeless people who would LOVE to be in your position!! Man what a joke.
Seriously, this is the most pathetic logic I've ever come across. Wise up.

Tomi Golob

What the hell is wrong with you people?? You are angry because he didn't like this year's CES? This is too much...

If you ever visited one of these, you'd understand what he's talking about, outside of the lack of (or rather a smaller number compared to previous CES's) interesting announcements. The idiotic marketing, the amount of crap and stupidity at these shows, the completely unfinished products, the overabundance of crap crap crap, the insanely blown out of proportion press releases, etc. - all that takes its toll.

It's crap overload. CES is hard work for tech journalists, you barely get any sleep, and when you feel like you're wasting your time, you start to wish for more. The night-time events are nice, but you have to balance them with sleep and pushing out articles and videos. It's very stressful. You want to feel like there is a good reason you're doing this.

I absolutely agree with David, CES this year is much more lackluster compared to previous years. I've been to two, maybe three, and all of them were much more exciting. At the same time, every year there are more and more companies trying to beat each other to the punch. Hell, all CES secrets come out before CES even starts. And some weeks before.

Anyway, it's all relative, folks. Remember that. We're all looking for innovation at these events, and it's just not at the level we were expecting, overall.

intyleritrusted

Artem, you hit it on the spot there. I love AP and you guys are doing a stellar job of writing excellent articles about complete crap. If someone had given me an all-expenses-paid trip to CES I probably would have ditched it and went to the casino pretty early on. Definitely after Samsung's keynote. Hell, I would have probably wished I was back at home working. In addition to having to be there, you guys have to WRITE about this garbage. Keep up the good work.

SetiroN

Guess what, some people even take vacation days and pay thousands of dollars of their own money to spend an almost sleepless week in Vegas, with the added value of being surrounded by the world's most advanced consumer electronics. :)

CES is for industry professionals and press. If you use vacation days and pay thousands of dollars, you're a) probably not supposed to be here but somehow got in and are doing it out of curiosity (and it's probably your first time there), b) doing it wrong as you're wasting your money.

PINJ

Atleast The Authors Honest.

Abhijeet Mishra

Believe me, I can understand how disappointing it must be, even though I've not been to one of these. I don't think the editorial is a joke, was just saying that it can be easy for people like me to call it a joke since we've not been there in person. It's similar to how I have a much better idea of how good or bad iOS is after I purchased an iPad 4 last week (my first iOS device), instead of what I knew before I had used the OS, hehe.

BigMixxx

Having been to CES, this one, is truly a little on the slow side. The TV's are WAAAY expensive for the average consumer. The other consumer products are just not ready for home (a la wifi stove from 2010)....

The car stuff is cool, however. The other thing is that folks get opportunities to see OTHER stuff from other manufacturers...which is really nice...

Everyone now has their own clout for dedicated events, at least the major portion. I expected more. But...

The author hit it on the nose...

gspida

He has a right to be disappointed. Give the guy a break. Not everybody can go to Disney World (I have never been), but I am 100% sure those people who work there get sick of it after so long.

If he doesn't like his job. Get another job then... Problem solved. I'm with Brian here. Probably all the readers of this site would be happy to be a full-time geek like the editor. If he doesn't enjoy it anymore, maybe they should let another geek have a go at it?

But the fact remains it was a lackluster exhibition of tech. What you say is irrelevant to that fact

MyNameIsLOS

Agreed. Have twitter just to follow a bunch of tech news sites/blogs. And I do that because I like to see exciting advances. Reading about ces is usually one of my favorite times of the year. But this time, I'm just annoyed by the flood of articles about pure crap. Except project shield, that looks pretty awesome.

Well, I was liking the announcements, but it seems that I've only been receiving the ones I was interested in, unlike the tech reporters out there. I like Sony's strong comeback in the form of the Xperia Zs, and I feel the 4050mAh-equipped Huawei 6.1 incher is an excellent replacement for tablets and phones onto one single reliable convergence device. NVIDIA came in strong, although I'll keep my Vita because I don't think the Shield will attract console dev support --but I hope it does. 4KTVs only makes sense for delivering glasses-free 3D content in 1080p resolution (halfed).... but otherwise, there's no content out there for 4K in 2D. I'm extremely disappointed at the lack of flexible tablets and phablets from Samsung. I think they were saving them for next year, given how financially successful they were last year. Given Sony and HTC's comeback plans, I think Samsung will definitely need the flexible screen next year. Windows 8 laptops failed to convince me to upgrade to one. I'll be waiting for HTC and Sammy to announce their phablet offerings before purchasing the Huawei Ascend Mate...

Brian Inglut

I am loving the design of the z just hope Sony can actually being it to the US. That device looks slick. And most 4k TVs are bundled with someway to view/get 4k like it makes a difference because of price but should be noted. Samsung's new TV is slick also

Glucksdrachen

Spotted on the Verge, but the Oculus Rift seems to have potential...

Cenarl

I would almost guarantee nvidia will price the shield to a "no longer interested" level, so you can probably mark that off the list too.

Ittiam

Other than shield, the only thing that caught my attention was what Samsung is trying to do with the softer aspects of TV (multi view, evolution kit, etc).. But you are bang on. We dont need higher pixels. We need the software features in normal TVs

After reading the whole article I can't help to think that it is a bit biased. I mean, yes he is disappointed and he has all the right to be (as is any attendee), but the reasons he points out were simply - He wasn't interested in the things he saw. That hardly seems a reason to say that the whole event is a joke...

That said, apart from Shield and the Ubuntu phone I do consider this to be a slow news year myself, and I may not be as excited with this CES, but I can't say its a joke just because most of the things there don't interest me personally.

Also, I know CES is in the US, but is it and International event, or is it towards the US market alone? Because the author seems to be off with whatever american provider shown there (AT&T, Verizon etc) and he turns down devices simply because they won't be sold in the US, personally its a very poor reason for a specialized reporter to turn down on showcase in an event like this.

arthur

David

Thanks for this article. It is really refreshing to see an honest review rather than the usual hype of crap that you find on most of the other blogs.

JonJJon

Agreed its good to see someone actually write something that puts it in blatant clear light that these shows or CES in particular has become a waste of time and money and a joke these days.

Mariano Gori

Great article! it really is great to see a journalist tell the absolute truth. I've watched a couple of keynotes from CES and found myself getting extremely bored and uninterested.

Anonymous

You meant "news site".

AndroidPolice is a news site, not a blog. Blogs are about personal views on life and stuff the author thinks are interesting. This post is an exception, but does not make AP a blog.

Just because the feed is dynamic and there are comments doesn't mean anything can be a blog.

That's because they have a big-ass trailer and a team of 20+ that gets along really well together and likes to load up on Jager till their ears fall off.

SetiroN

Seriously?
There was a pretty decent list of interesting to cool to awesome things to see, nothing short of what there was last year.
Let's not forget that more mobile-related announcements are expected to be made in Barcelona at MWC, so of course CES isn't overly filled with them.
You complain about cool stuff and mention lots of 'meh' things from last year's supposedly much better show. How was the galaxy note coming to at&t months after its introduction anywhere near cool? How was a 7" tablet prototype from asus (that wasn't connected to google at the time) such a big deal? How were toshiba's or acer's new product announcements any different from this year?
You're putting things from this year in an arbitrarily bad light, downplaying many cool things for moronic reasons (xperias leaked already! it's normal for chips to become faster! the newest amazing tvs will cost a lot! this or that phone weren't annouced in the US yet!).

Let's recap CES:

-the first A15 quad core announcement was well awaited and deserves recognition
-geforce grid, low latency streamed gaming at home is HUGE for pc gamers
-krait 600 and 800 with adreno 330 are pretty cool
-ultra large 4k TVs are interesting to see regardless of price, content will be made available with time and very easily so thanks to internet distribution
-4K OLED TVs are AMAZING and constitute the future of home entertainment
-xperia Z and ZL, the leaks were BECAUSE of ces and it's still a big annoucement
-lenovo's commercial clover trail smartphone is a first
-intel announcements about bay trail and haswell are always interesting
-oculus rift, nice to see it progressing
-vizio's new tablets and phones are very nice
-the usual array of 2013 refreshes (TVs, laptops and whatnot) are always nice to see
-multiple intriguing windows 8 convertibles were much more interesting than last year's
-huawei's ascend mate is the largest phone/tablet hybrid, and it WILL be available in more than just china over time
-fujifilm's X100s and X20 are amazing camera that fix their predecessor's biggest flaw by giving them the fastest autofocus system in the world
-the asus qube is an unexpected novelty
-the new OLPC looks nice
-valve's Newell had interesting new details and stuff to say about the upcoming steam box

I don't see how all that stuff makes up for a bad show. Especially in light of what you mentioned from 2012.
It's not every year that you can expect revolutions.

Tomi Golob

So he is correct to say this year is lackluster compared to previous year...that's what you said in the end.

SetiroN

2012 wasn't revolutionary either, but thanks for trolling.

jgarrido

The author is also basically indicating that the show is dead from here on out based on 1 'light' year. Sounds like an impatient jumping to conclusions.

Well, it's kind of been going downhill in the last few years, that's his point.

itznfb

I'd have to agree that this year isn't bad at all. The innovation and cost reduction in the TV products coming to market this year is huge. The TV's along with Nvidia's announcements blow away anything and everything we heard last year put together.

I think the point is that it's much more evolutionary this year and much less revolutionary (NVIDIA was definitely leading the charge in the latter department - heck, they didn't even seem like they belonged to CES, more like to a completely separate event).

P.S. The 7" Tegra 3 tablet you're talking about set the tech world on fire due to its price for the specs. It was incredible.

this guys a clown. This show is not for you and small blogs, idiot. its for big companies and corporations to have meetings and network and shit. of course this ain't for your fat ass. stop writing dumbass articles and go home.

yankeesusa

Actually, the ces is not just for big companies. Yes they are there and will do what they can to network and advertise but this show is called the "consumer electronics show". Its the small people that buy electronics like these and if its boring and unintersting then this article makes complete sense. Your use of cuss words to explain yourself is the perfect example of someone who should think before he writes.

Cherokee4Life

i don't understand... if you don't like David why do you come to this website? Android Police gives their utmost honest and no BS answers and articles. If that's not what you want go to The Verge, where everything written is from a bias standpoint

1. You're a jerk. And there's really no other way about it. It's a fact.

2. Sure, CES is big for networking. We don't suggest otherwise. But having some innovation doesn't stand in the way of that. And that's the main point here.

3. CES is also for the media/press. That's a huge part of it. You're wrong to assume otherwise.

And if you didn't notice, the article title starts with the word "Editorial." As in "opinion." That's his. And this is yours. Except you're a much bigger douche than he is.

JonJJon

I thought Toshiba had come out with some "swish" looking smart watch no one will want. This Nvidia Shield may look cool but I'm predicting a pretty big failure on this more so than the Vita. It will be too expensive and no one will see the point of it; Gamers (I am one) have become ignorant assholes complaining all the time and creating fanboy wars more hostile than Google vs Apple vs MS fanboy feuds - everyone cried out for console type games on the go in terms of gameplay and graphics, the Vita mostly delivers on this front but now they are all hating on Sony that they don't want console games on the go. Don't get me started on the ignorance of gamers when it comes to consoles. So anyway the Nvidia shield will be cool but ultimately fail in the consumer space. These 4K TVs are about 10 years too early and not to mention pointless in the average home for viewing and because internet is going to take no less than 5 to 10 years to get to the stage to be able to support 4K media easily across even 20% of any western country. These tech companies just aren't thinking about the ecosystems as a whole anymore resulting in products completely out of place in time and function. Rant for the day over.

RealityCheck2013

I enjoyed SONY's show :P

Peter

Given how whingy the reviews are this is no surprise what-so-ever. Most jobs have a boring aspect to them and this may be the crap at the convention. Not enough innovation for you? What do you expect? Most years the process will be incremental. Also the CE stands for consumer electronics which rightly includes TV.

Of course everyone deserves an opinion but this just sounds like a guy whinging about his job. Also the rant doesn't make any sense. Why would the big names drop out if it gives them the exposure they want? Just becuase it isn't interesting to you (I would question why you work for this blog) it doesn't mean that others aren't interested in the news from the event. I loved most of the coverage even though there was little android news. The Windows 8 stuff was interesting.

defred34

CES might have been poor for Android. But overall it is like any other year...

GraveUypo

"TVs don't need more pixels"

THANK YOU. god, i don't know why people are so obsessed with having more pixels than they can see with a magnifier.

defred34

You putting down a 60-incher with 4K resolution? How bout putting down a 10-inch tablet with 1600p resolution?

GraveUypo

same story. these things aren't that fast to begin with and they put so much more strain on them with that resolution that they feel slower than the previous generation. whatever resolution it'd be with 240ppi at that size is more than enough for 10" tablets. 7" tablets might want to be a little denser because people hold them a bit closer to their eyes, but not by that much. i'm not really against the high density here, i just think it's too soon for it. unlike tvs.

for tvs you need MUCH less ppi because you won't be sitting right next to it. people usually feel most confortable if a screen occupies less than 45 horizontal degrees of their view, which is more or less the angle the eye is capable of focus (so you see all the screen at once without having to move the eyes too much), so you pretty much need enough PPI to fill that 45 degrees with small enough pixel that they don't get noticed.

well, on smaller tvs, like 32", they usually don't get to fill that much space in our vision so 720p does the trick on most cases, but not all. 1080p is a good spot to be on bigger sizes tho.

not to mention 2 mega pixels already shows enough detail in any scene as not to be detrimental as our old beloved 480i(nterlaced) blurry piece of craps used to be for so long.

SetiroN

Wild guess: you've never seen a 4K TV with 4K content.
1920x1080 over 50" or more are VERY visible, the difference with 4K is astounding.

GraveUypo

sit 3 meters away from such a tv and i bet you can't tell 720p from 4k, unless it's a game (which suffers from high contrast edges thanks to aliasing)

Lenovo K900 Was A Good Thing. (Considering How Much Beer A Single Crappy Atom Processor Was In Comparison With A Galaxy S3, I Really Am Looking Forward To The Pownage That The K900 Will Bring To The S4)

jimmysmalia

Re-inventing the Wheel?

defred34

Ever hear of a baby crying? Well, here's a big (40 something methinks) baby crying and throwing his toys out of the pram!

I stopped reading at "They aren’t products – they’re things that go in the products".

From a marketing prespective, that was a joke from someone that has no concepts on marketing. If intel were following that rule in the past and didn't made the "Intel Inside" campaign, and never advertised their products "because they are things that go inside products" and don't deserve to be announced and advertised, intel wouldnt get so popular like nowadays. Its not just the "things" or products or wathever, is the brand, to give confidence to customers and the position they take in trade shows, even if people don't care about processors or other stuff.

Is the brand presence, even if the component is hidden in a bigger product.

Ironically as I finished reading this NPR started a story asking if CES is still relevant. So regardless of the answer it isn't a good sign that the question is asked by so many.

Zack Nebbaki

I am happy I didn't go there this year. Barcelona isn't he place to go for us mobile freaks

PhoenixPath

CES is about the latest and greatest Consumer Electronics. It's not "mobile"-centric, nor is it "budget"-centric. Anyone expecting either of those things likely needs to partake in a hefty dose of Reality.

I agree with the article. I am at the show and there seems to be a smaller attendence and really not as exciting as in years past. Also got that Macworld feeling which is CES looks like its starting to fail as a convention show. I mean most camera companies are waiting for 2 weeks till the camera convention and cell phones are waiting till Mobile World Congress so only thing exciting is 4K TV's and yea they probably won't be released till next year and the price point is ridiculous no one is going to spend. Swag is also down homefully it will get better today.

JustSaiyan

Sucks for you, David. You work at a tech news site. You HAVE to be at CES. Unless you'd rather stay behind, reporting on incremental software updates. Your choice. Either way, I'd kill for your job, and you're looking a gift horse in the mouth. Grow up.

Jonathan Warden

What are you talking about; grow up? He's reporting on CES. He is doing his job. And he thinks this years CES sucks. If he wrote anything other than that, he'd be full of shit and the people that read regularly would know he was full of shit. People come to android police because it isn't full of shit.

ROB

Havent been back since the 90's...they were all boring after awhile.

Magnus Brink

We are 10 days in this year. I think it's too early to say if gadgets are going to be lame this year. Although i agree that CES is loosing it's attraction to people and think we'll see it's decline over the next few years.

QwietStorm

Ok

RenatoFontesTapia

I'm actually excited about all the windows tablets being announced... and the fact that the next generations of laptops will all have touchscreens...

This year has for the most part been a bust but I think we've been a bit spoiled by the past few. The smartphone market exploded with growth. Everyone and their mother was in it hoping to grab a piece of the pie and they were coming full force. Then everyone saw the tablet market start to develop and they all jumped on it expecting the same kind of growth seen with smartphones. What was there this year for everyone to try to jump on? Not a lot unless you were a PC maker desperately trying to push your PCs.

The things that stood out/interested me were:

Nvidia's Shield
3D finally taking the backseat instead of TV manufacturers trying to make it the main dish

Not a whole lot else off the top of my head, I'm a sucker for the flexible e-ink displays but in reality it is old news/common sense evolution.

mldi

Tegra4 isn't a huge step forward? Then you're looking at the wrong specs, my friend. The Tegra4 solves a problem that's been plaguing Tegra for awhile now: single-channel memory. No more massive I/O problems! Honestly though, it should have been triple-channel, but dual-channel will go a long ways.

GeForceFX

Great summary. I'm glad I'm not alone. I was having a hard time understanding this CES, I kept searching if Ive missed something. Turns out. Nop.

Ultradroid

Wow. Sounds like a bitch-ass to me.

Closetothe2G

Look at the title: CES 2013 Is a Joke And I Honestly Don't Want To Come Back Next Year. Even before we've started reading, we're treated to a petulant, haughty title. Not a great way to start an editorial which builds on your expertise as an authority in your field.

The reason? Most of this site's readers will never get to go to CES, MWC, or any of the other trade shows to do with Mobile, so as enthusiasts, they live vicariously through the columnists who do attend. To discount it in such a fashion denegrates their second-hand experience. In short, "I don't want to read about how you didn't have a good time." This is basic travel-journalism.

Readers don't want to hear about how you don't want to go back. Readers want to hear "But I have high hopes for next year!" Slamming the whole event has the effect of making the writer sound like a jaded hipster who says "It was better back when...", and nobody likes that. The whole idea behind a tech blog is progress, building. Evolution is still progress. Don't slam progress--even underwhelming progress--because that doesn't play well with anyone except curmudgeons.

If you were less than enthused by the event, and you really feel the need to share that with readers (hint: you DON'T need to share that), save it for you facebook, G+, twitter. To post the editorial here suggests that your opinion represents that Android Police as an organization--which may or may not be accurate, I don't know--but it has clearly struck precisely the wrong tone with your readers.

These would be, to my thinking, the reasons this has been the least popular editorial on this site. I hope you change your mind about CES, David. And if nothing else, I hope you got to have one of those gigantic, guitar-shaped drinks and made some money at the tables. Remember, when you look back on this years from now, you'll still be happy you had the experience.

lewishnl

Don't agree at all :P I think that this expresses the feeling everyones had, regardless of whether you've been there. I've been bored to shit with CES this year, even though I've never been before, previous announcements in android really excited me for market launch, but this year, fuck all. Don't blame the author for being honest and expressing his feelings, that's what this medium is for. I for one (and from the looks of it, I am not alone), want to know the whole CES experience, good or bad, I don't want someone to lie that it was amazing or forget to remind me that I haven't missed any CES announcements, it's just that there weren't any.

It could never end up in any products we actually use, or it could take 5 years. I've seen it way too many times - they show it off, then nothing ever ends up happening.

Itchy_Robot

Well author, I have felt this way about electronics for 4 years now. While hardware is moving forward, the huge leaps we saw with SD>HDTVs and dumbphones>Smartphones are all but history. There isn't really anything pushing the limits, leaving us with only to use and enjoy what we have; which is a lot! The only thing in the tech sector that has my interest now is home automation, energy efficiency and future gaming consoles. Other than that, I could care less about these trade shows.

Your post is a load of bollocks. Firstly, the sort of jumps you're talking about are usually standards driven (SD -> HD etc) and we get a few of them in a few different areas each decade, and except for iPhone making a moderate jump, the smartphone has been developing in iterations for a longwhile now and hasn't come close to peaking.

All I got out of this article was, "Wahhhhh! I have an awesome job writing about technology that I'm interested in and my company pays me to go out and cover these shows where I get to see new and exciting stuff WAHHHH I HATE MY LIFE"

Seriously, go cry some more, and then come back and realize most people would LOVE to have your job, eat some humble pie, and be grateful.

Some people shovel shit for a living or a bad day at work for them is getting electrocuted or losing a hand in a machine or having a patient die on them and he's complaining about getting comp'ed a week in Vegas because he doesn't think the toys are as good as last year...Really?

Given that the only serious threat to your health is Carpal Tunnel from tapping on all those keys, you might want to give it a break... it kind of just sounds a bit... spoilt. Especially given every single person reading this article would give their left nut to be in your position.

Listen, everyone who's taking this post personally: just don't. Honestly. It's not about you. It's not about other people having to work harder or "shovel shit" or whatever and David having to run around Vegas 18 hours a day covering technology.

It's about the slowed pace of innovation at CES and all the bullshit surrounding it (see my other comment for more).

Actually, it is about us. You're not writing for yourselves. Even when you write an editorial, you still have to consider your audience. Everything you write that your audience reads is personal. That's why you backed off the iOS attacks, isn't it? That's why you don't slam RIM or Microsoft, because you want fans of those companies to still like your site; because you want to be considered an impartial authority--and that's extremely laudable. But you offended your audience here, clearly, else there wouldn't be 100+ replies to an editorial.

As for missing the point, is the point for David to vent his personal feelings on your otherwise very professional site? Or is the point that Android Police is really making a move towards declaring CES, as an event, dead forevermore? Or is the point that AP won't be going back next year? Or is the point just suggesting that perhaps this CES is a little bit of a letdown when stacked up against previous years? If that's the point, then it was moot before the editorial was written--we read the news you post, and what The Verge and Pocketnow and Ars Technica all post, and it's been clearly plain as day to us that CES 2013 is a weak year. We don't need an editorial for that. Or if we did, it should have been written differently, starting with the title, which--SERIOUSLY--begs to be trolled and mocked.

We get that there's a lot of bullshit. But every single one of you signed on for a ride on the S.S. Bullshit when you took the job. Letting it get to you, and then--disastrously--letting it get back to us is quite frankly unprofessional. If I'm not mistaken, you're the editor, Artem. If that's so, then it's ultimately up to you what gets posted here, and blame for this fiasco of an editorial lands ultimately at your feet.

So, don't try to deflect back onto your readers their disappointment in a piece that they shouldn't have ever read. Step up and say, "You know, David could've probably phrased that differently." Or better yet, delete the damn thing.

I still choose AP as my primary Android news site, and will continue to do so, but I'll confess that I was let down by this article.

I and my two colleagues are attending this year again and we had almost exactly the same impressions you shared. Nothing truly innovative for Android. Android love is almost non-existent other than the Galaxy SIII & Note 2 which aren't even new releases, Huawei (I had one of their phones and it sucked, and the ones I demo'ed sucked too as they try to be a cheaper Samsung). Even the photography scene isn't too impressive. I may not come back next year. One thing I loved is checking out the Panasonic Toughpad A1, but again, they released it about 3 months ago. Google isn't interested in participating significantly at CES, there are few cool apps, which don't really belong at CES, and you're right, there are a lot of last year's wares with new model numbers on them.

1ceTr0n

Wow, author sounds like a spoiled little bitch honestly who can't seem to appreciate the opportunity to go to these shows that TONS of us geeks would love to attend but can't, me included. Me thinks you should go flip burgers or be a an apple genius and let someone who will really enjoy and appreciate work like this have your job douche

Ed Baker

Sounds like someone who works around android devices all day everyday that hears all the rumors. Sounds like you need to send a newbie to cover the show, someone who can get excited about tech and share those views. Not someone who feels locked into a boring job he is forced to do.
Would you send Hugh Heffner or a teen boy to cover a bikini contest?

masenx

Turn that frown upside down. ;')

Neill Mitchell

Perhaps the worst global recession since the 1930's may have something to do with it?

Jimmy Li

But I know of smaller companies there like your coverage of the Pebble. That was decent IMO. And i know the multi touch keyboard by Jason Giddings, yes another Kickstarter project, is there. What about those things?

But Pebble wasn't unveiled at CES - they used it simply as yet another promotional tool. If it has a KickStarter, 99 percent chance it's not unveiled at CES.

Jimmy Li

I know Pebble and KS don't unveil there and companies like the startups use them as a great promo tool like you said, but they are still good products to look at. I mean, it wouldn't be a total worthless trip if you got a chance to play with a few toys while there. I mean I agree with you there on the lack of "consumerism" there is at these events now. I guess this year is a dud from what I have seen so far.

Have you gotten a chance to check out things like the i'm watch or even the V-Moda booth? Val at V-Moda is there and he is a really great guy (I think he's the CEO).

First of all, you guys need to take a break after the CES trip. You're just tired from all the reporting. I'd rather you write about exciting stuff, than complaining about the state of tech.
Also, if this is such a 'personal' article, maybe post it on your blog instead.
Thanks!

Asphyx

The most groundbreaking thing that was supposed to be announced got cancelled when IBM cancelled the announcement of thier Smart TV system that was going to let you cut the chord and stream TV to your living room then realized it's hard to do if the TV networks haven't given you explicit permission to do that!
That was the most future changing thing expected from this CES and it was dead a day before the event started.
The technology now exists to do it properly but the content creators have an issue getting on board. As more cable providers start playing hardball on paying sub fees they will start to change thier mind I hope.